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View Poll Results: How would you rate this episode?

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5/5 Verizon Wireless - The QWERTY Keyboard Phone: what a price to flip for

Rate & Review: "Lost Verizon" (KABF15)

In order to save up money to buy a cell phone, Bart takes a job at a country club retrieving golf balls. While at the course, Bart watches celebrities, including Dennis Leary playing a round. When Leary’s cell phone rings just as he is about to take a swing, he furiously throws the phone in the air and it lands right next to Bart. Bart decides to keep the cell and makes prank calls to all over the world pretending to be Leary. He even accepts a job offer from famed producer Brian Grazer to star in the film version of “Everyone Poops.” When Marge discovers what Bart has been up to, she confiscates the device and calls Leary to return the phone. But Leary has a better idea, and instructs Marge to activate the GPS system on the phone so she can track Bart’s every move. Bart quickly catches on and devises a plan that sends the family on a wild goose chase all the way to Machu Picchu.NOTE: In a 2007 article, Matt Damon was reported to be in this episode, but he has not been mentioned by any of the producers or in the official press release, so I guess he was a scratch.

Nice couch gag again. These are usually the creative highlights of episodes.

First act
Nice beginning with Skinner and his mother, but him walking across the road went on a little longer.
Drunk Barney sighting!
Dr. Nick sighting!
When they get someone like Dennis Leary, I'd prefer if he played a character rather than himself. His first line wasn't too great, but I chuckled at "I'll kick you out of show business"

Not much to this act. It was fairly enjoyable, nothing terrible so far, and the act break was the best part. 3.5/5

Second act
Oh joy, over-description. "Dennis Leary? Boston comedian turned movie star turned basic cable notable?" Can't they describe a guest star without it sounding extremely forced and lame? It would have been funnier if neither Bart or Milhouse had any idea who Leary was. "But wait, it's SUPPOSED to be lame as a joke" some of you will say. No, it's just lazy writing and they tried to make it look like a joke.
Bart's prank calls are back! Great sequence, it would have been perfect if he called Moe though.
The sequence where Marge talks to Dennis Leary seemed a little rushed, and really didn't come off too well in my opinion.
"Are you sure this is safe" "Yeah, I got my seatbelt on" pretty good dialogue.
Homer doing laundry was great.
Lisa's voice always sounds really weird when she does a gasp [insert lines]
Great stuff with Moe watching Marge and the FBI watching Moe.
Again, Lisa's voice is sounding a little weird.

An up and down act, the highlights were the prank calls and Moe with the FBI. However, the parts with Leary didn't turn out very well, his lines were too rushed and he didn't do as good as he should have. 3/5

Third act
Lisa lying in order to get to Macchu Piccu? Okay...
Nice dream sequence, good animation.
Great ending with Maggie.
"Dedicated to Paul Newman", nice touch from the show. I'm kind of surprised they didn't dedicate an episode to George Carlin, but oh well.

Anyway, overall not a bad episode. Some nice gags and sequences. But Dennis Leary really dragged it down. I'll give it a 3/5. Better than last week's episode.

This is an improvement over some of the last few seasons, but it still isn't classic Simpsons. Part of the problem is that the episodes are trying too hard for the big story. Going all the way to South America? Marge going back in time with a come-to-life statue? Come on. Simple stories are better.

The first two acts were pretty enjoyable. Dennis Leary was great, the pop tarts thing and his description of Ice Age was great. I loved the prank call gag around the world. it was all so good i considered giving it 4/5. But the last act was really week. 3/5

I really didn't expect to like this episode but...

Despite my previous misgivings and initial lack of interest in the plot, I thought this episode was hillarious. It made me laugh out loud (a hard thing for me) at least 4 times.... I swear this is the best new episode I have seen in a long time... this and the movie still give me hope that the simpsons might return to a more modern version of what it once was.

This sort of remined me of last week - it got better after the first act, which I felt was kind of poor. The Skinner stuff went on too long for my tastes and it wasn't particularly funny, but once Bart finally got himself to the golf course it picked up. Pretty good act break, too. At least it was establishing enough... But that's a problem. They established plenty of reason for Bart to want a cell so badly, but everything else in the episode felt far too rushed.

Still, I really enjoyed myself as the episode progressed. The second act was probably the best... though Leary was kind of wasted. He could've been way better utilized, I don't even remember much... that stunt double line was pretty lame for a part of the episode that should have been taken more seriously for convincing Marge.

Seeing the prank phone calls come back was great, and what a great way to show it, what with the globe and all... That was very nicely well done and pretty funny too. But... two music montages in one episode is far too much. Seriously, they need to cut down on these things. If they figure that's the best way to get it out of the way quickly, then they should cut down on the unrelated first act material and use that time on the parts that actually matter.

Going all the way down to Machu Picchu was... a little too wacky, but still - some great Bart stuff there (I enjoyed that day is night is scary/day is awesome bit), and the designs down there were really, really nice looking. But still... some decent material aside, it would be nice if the show went a bit more, uhhh, down to earth again and remembered that... I mean, for Marge complaining about money troubles, can the family really afford to have Homer not working for two weeks and spending a shitload of gas the whole time? I mean, it was okay but it stuck out a little too much.

But that was kind of made up for me with some of the Bart/Marge stuff. Like when Marge gave Bart the cell back and he ran out, and then ran back in and hugged her... that was sweet. As was the end, which was really nice - I was waiting for that and I'm happy they did it.

So... some really nice sequences, the stuff after the first act, and the Bart and Marge stuff, plus this did have some pretty good jokes (cheap, yeah - but I actually did laugh out loud when Bart and Milhouse were at the construction zone and Milhouse got slammed into some of the beams), I'll go with a pretty solid semi high 4/5. I liked it a little more than last week's. It was entertaining enough, but the first acts are really dragging this down.

I thought it had a very unrealistic storyline after Bart attached the tracking chip on the bird's foot but it was still a great episode either way. I loved the couch gag at the begining..Haha..that was cool! I give it a 3/5 with a grade of A-

I liked this one ...had some really good gags in there like (Moe and the FBI, Homer doing laundry). Some of the parts were a bit silly, mostly in Act 3, and Denis Leary was overused. Again, it was a fun plot with Bart in it, that really made me smile. The prank call part around the world was good. I liked the dream sequence, in which it taught Marge a lesson. So far, so good in Season 20 of "The Simpsons".
In My Opinion, "Sex,Pies, and Idiot Scrapes" was just a tad better, but both were good.

Dewey, next time you make an R&R thread, make it public please. It helps ease expectations...

Yes... for some reason, I forgot about it in the last second

As for episode, I'm very pleasantly surprised! Plot went to better path than I thought (to think that Dennis Leary will make an impact of finding Bart)... sure there were some wackiness, but it all made sense to blend into the story and this Bart's mischief, IMO, was done well and I love it... for some reason, like in the episodes 'Bart on the Road' and 'Little Big Girl', I'm very fond of episodes that involve others being fooled or panicking due to this little boy's wrongdoings. I don't know if I would see the plot as negative (I enjoyed it actually, and for more, read the next paragraph)... but ending with Maggie was funny. And unlike last week's episode, for some reason when first and second acts ended, I had this feeling that I couldn't wait for next one. I dunno, but it was that good for me

I really loved the humor in this episode also. There were some clever moments (Milhouse getting shot off the bulldozer, Day/Night thing, Barney and Agnes shaking hands while Skinner was in dumpster, etc.) that made me chuckle or laugh. What is so good about this episode, I think, is that one aspect of plot seemed reallly hilarious for me... and that would be the family's flight to Macchu Picchu by the flight of the bird. It's wacky, I know (I'm not sure about Lisa's decision to lie just to get to Macchu Picchu, but given that she wished to go there in the earlier part of the episode, so it's a little forgivable if considered very out-of-whack), but it set up for hilarious consequences that I find very entertaining. I do see some complaining about the musical montage, but what I think is that--as long as it has some funny moments that describe the theme of the situation, it's all right or good--and I think this one did its homework, so I don't have any negative view about it. Well done. Oh and Viagra gag on Skinner... I know we had a discussion on the sex jokes, but I think it was more subtle yet a little cringeworthy--but I thought it was alright

Overall, I think it's way funnier and grades better than "Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes". I'll be happy if rest of the season goes like this... or better 4.25/5 to 4/5 and B+

The couch gag was cute -- might have been even funny if they did something with the statue, say make it come to life just as Bart goes Aye Carumba!

I liked the bit between Agnes and Skinner at the start -- did you notice Agnes' advice book on bingo was all about luck?

When Skinner finally gets across the highway, only to realize he forgot the gas can, that was predictable but funny.

Somewhat hard to believe that kids these days have cell phones -- though I have seen some even with Blackberries. Sheesh -- when I was a kid, all we had was LEGO! I liked how the cell phones brought all the kids together -- even the bullies (like when Nelson was beating up Martin, but he stopped and they both went to see Skinner cross the highway).

I liked it when Maggie held up the sign "Me 2 Sad."

So that's what Barney does for a living?!?!

It was cute when Milhouse says he's not allowed to look out the window.

I'm not a big fan of Dennis Leary, I don't think he's a great actor or comedian, but he's still got star power. Still, you'd think they could have written some better lines for him, most of his lines weren't even slightly amusing, let alone interesting. Best use of Dennis Leary was the physical sight gag when he jumps for his POP Tarts.

I love Bart's crank calls! Thought for sure they'd toss in a bartender somewhere around the world that looked just like Moe, but they didn't -- which is good, because that would be too predictable.

When Dennis Leary tells Marge to keep the phone, I thought it odd -- isn't he getting the bill for all of Bart's long-distance calls?

Loved watching Milhouse fly through the air off the forklift. Never found out if he was okay?

As the family is following Bart's movements, I was wondering what laptop they are using -- I have a laptop and my batteries don't last that long! We never saw them plug it in, or have it die on 'em. Must be one of those new nuclear powered ones.

I can understand how Homer and Marge may go on and on after Bart, but wouldn't Lisa have clued in long before about Bart not being able to go that far that fast before seeing the bird? Though it was funny when Lisa kept quiet to get a free trip to Macchu Piccu.

I liked the dream sequence with Marge, and the dialogue of the statue -- about how he used to have a business, but is now lonely. Lots of references to Marge as the constantly over protective parent -- which we see in many episodes.

When Bart wraps himself around Marge's leg, and begs her to never leave, that was very sweet. And it ended on a fun note, with Maggie now being worshiped as a god over in Macchu Piccu.

Not a laugh-a-minute episode, and it didn't have any real sentimental moments either. But it was entertaining, which is what TV is all about -- 3/5.

Treated to a decent couch gag, it feels like we've seen it all by this point. The opening sequence upset me, cause it just reminds me of how bad this show is at slapstick, and especially with Skinner. He had this entire similar slapstick scene last year from the Debarted, which honestly put that episode down an entire notch cause of it. But thankfully, this episode has way less wrong about it than it did good. Bart having a tea party with Lisa, it was a nice cutaway gag. Nothing special, but the image setup got a nice laugh out of me. The green giant bill joke, I don't know why, but I felt like that had been done before. Regardless, it's not a great joke, but it's fun none the less. I did like Maggie's sign, "Me Sad 2", it was pretty cute, and nice to see her once in a while. The line by Hibbert in the next scene, really sitcomish, the "This is why my kids go to private school", but his laugh can somehow put a good spin on anything, and it left me with a positive feel. Little did I know that the following montage would be the first of two montages, but at this point I can tell you, last week's was much funnier. Last week's montage was actually quite good, this week however, the first one was as plain as can be, and fairly unfunny. Ugh, and then a Willie joke came up afterwards at the golf course, they couldn't be using Willie wrong anymore than they have in the last few years. The episode up to this point, and much for the first act was feeling quite, err, boring to say the least. The upcoming sequence of Krusty harping on Leary got some nice laughs out of me, seeing Springfield's stars gang up on him, and then slowly back away, it was quite nice. Leary overall in this episode, while he fell in the staple of "Celebrities on the Simpsons are crazy" stereotype, his jokes were quite funny, I'll get to the other ones later. The end of the first act, uh, I think we've had more than enough of these fourth wall jokes. You can't keep doing the same thing over and over, and unfortunately they are.

Fortunately, the first act was the weakest, and the rest of the episode really kicked off for me after this.

2nd Act

After some banter about Milhouse and Bart about his new cellphone, we're treated to a great Everybody Poops scene with Dennis Leary. Just conjuring up the image of Leary recording his lines for this scene had me laughing, but the voice change was great too. And it was even better to see the prank call sequence coming up next, which was good, until it turned awesome with a great call to a Swedish bar, where Bart displayed the futility of humanity to all the viewers at home. "Same way you got me, by accident at a golf course", pretty funny, again, post-classic sitcomish. Right after that line, we were treated with the final Dennis Leary joke, which had both good and bad. It's not the first time we've seen celebrities act like maniacs on this show, and this scene here with the pop tarts wasn't exactly good. What was good, was the comedy timing of it. Him peering out the window, being incredibly paranoid, joking about himself, and eventually diving for those pop tarts, it's something this show hasn't done well, and that's do the comedy timing. The rest of the episode isn't exactly strong in that area, but here, it's marvelous in spades. Anyways, I think Homer says his first line here in the episode with "Did he take the bait", he played a generally secondary character in this episode, very small role, not a very good one, but it's okay, everyone else made up for him. Here's where the second montage came into play, Bart running around town with Marge chasing him and spoiling all his fun. This was a really weak montage, feels like this show has an obligation to some bands to play their music on the air. I don't get it, but whatever. Anyways, I loved Moe spying Midge, and the FBI spying on Moe. Any way Moe does it, I love it when he calls Marge Midge. A pretty dumb Skinner viagra joke, but seeing Skinner walk like that, a nice image. And then the second act ended, with a fairly unfunny gag. So unfunny, I can't remember it.

The second act wasn't filled with so many jokes or misfires, but the jokes that it did have, were pretty darn good. It was funny, albeit on the short end of the stick.

3rd Act

First thing I noticed here was Milhouse's odd voice. Something sounded incredibly off, and just contributes to the voice acting problems of this show. Anyways, I know story wise, Lisa lying to go to Peru was a little off, but I disagree, I think a child would do something like that. If this were the classic simpsons, Lisa would've been moral, she hasn't been entirely been that character in the last few years. There was a great sequence here, where Bart living at home without his parents, experiencing the day and night differences, this wasn't as much funny as it was great for the story. It really humanized Bart, which is something again, this show has a big difficulty with. Making there characters feel real, and seem real. Bart felt as a real kid would feel like, and I loved it. This was a huge contrast as opposed to the act before we he exclaimed he was going to do all the things that his parents would already make him do when they left looking for him in Peru. That was a terrible line, and just, ugh, didn't fit at all. Homer did have a great line while in Peru about the trickster God. I remember on one of the commentaries, the writers said that they loved it when Homer had these moments of great intelligence, beyond anything the casual audience has a clue about. They've tried this over the last few years to great failure, but when Homer started talking about the trickster God, I got a nice kick out of it. It reminded me a lot of those moments in past when Homer would say the last thing you'd expect him to say, and it turned out to be hilarious.

That was followed up with a great vision from one of the God's to Marge, and a fantastic ending with Bart hugging Marge's leg, and of course, Maggie in Peru.

Some final words on the jokes in this episode, fantastic quantity, terribly inconsistent. I don't know if they're trying to find a groove here, but you can tell they tried to fire as many jokes as they could, and this time, a lot of them stuck. I can remember episodes in the past we'd have a total of four or five real jokes per episode, I counted twice or three times as many in this episode. The jokes were fast and furious, but they have to start seperating the crappy ones that stop the flow of the episode, once they do that, this enjoyable experience can become a fairly addictive one.

Something about it... I liked when Barney saw Skinner as a huge beer can; it was nice to see Bart's crank calls again; I laughed when Milhouse was thrown from the forklift; it was fun to see Maggie at the end as a god and her handwritten "me sad 2" got a chuckle outta me; I also liked the FBI spying on Moe, spying on Marge bit.

I didn't see the "Dedicated to Paul Newman" at the end...stupid Global (Canadian) feed cut it out!

This one made me laugh quite a bit...and I love the funny ones! I will need to watch this one again coz I really, really liked it

Overall- I liked this episode despite the weak third act. Some great lines and gags. Wish Leary wasn't so angry. It was great to see some new prank calls and Maggie's last appearance had me laughing pretty hard!
4.5/5 so I voted 5/5